The most common type of cell seen in the urine sediment is the epithelial cell. This slide shows squamous epithelial cells under low power brightfield microscopy (upper image) and a squamous epithelial cell under high power. The sediment in the lower image was stained with a supravital stain. The cells appear as large flattened cells with abundant cytoplasm and small round central nucleus. Although squamous epithelial cells have little clinical significance they must be differentiated from other cellular elements.
